He got his first taste of success with a Knife song and thousands of colorful bouncing balls, which is funny because José González has an intensely simple, personalized sound. Even on a commercial for a TV, singing someone else’s song, it feels like he’s alone in a room opening up his diary just for you, special one. On “Neon Lights,” the heretofore unreleased b-side for his new single “Killing For Love,” it’s just that haunting voice, guitar, and spare Shepherd’s Dog percussion … and it’s beautiful. He keeps it sadder and simpler than the pig-noise series of “Neon Lights”‘s a-side or “Down The Line. Even the words are held to a minimum — “Day in day out / night after night / you seem to wait for neon lights” — to maximum effect. (By the way, that’s Yukimi from Little Dragon and In Our Nature with the mirror, not José in a dress … optical illusions can be tricky. Sleeveface-y!)

Was that a teardrop? With this dude, less really is (cringe) more. But really.

In Our Nature is out on Mute, but this song isn’t on it. You can also catch José on tour.

02/29 – Miami, FL @ Airtime Theater
03/01 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
03/03 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Great Hall (UNC – Chapel Hill)
03/04 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
03/05 – Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
03/06 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 (Plug Awards)
03/07 – Tarrytown, NY @ The Tarrytown Music Hall
03/08 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Café
03/09 – Morgantown, WV @ WVU Creative Arts Center (Mountain Stage TV Taping)
03/11 – New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
03/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
03/13 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
03/14 – Montreal, QB @ Musee Juste Pour Rire
03/15 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
03/17 – Chicago, IL @ Lakeshore Theater
03/18 – Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
03/19 – St. Louis, MO @ Graham Chapel (Washington University)
03/20 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
03/21 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
03/22 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Union Ballroom (University of Utah)
03/24 – San Diego, CA @ San Diego Women’s Club
03/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
03/27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium
03/28 – Portland, OR @ The Aladdin Theatre
03/29 – Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/30 – Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/31 – Vancouver, ONT @ St. Andrew’s Wesley United